Author's Note: This story was written for a friend. It takes place after Return of the Jedi. Written March 2005Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters, and I am not making any money from these stories. Warning: Disciplinary spanking of an adult by a romantic partner - dubious consent.

A New Job

Han was not looking forward to going home. Leia was going to be pissed, and really had every right to be. As he sat in the cockpit of his Millennium Falcon next to Chewy he tried to come up with a good excuse, but all that came to mind was, 'It sounded like a good deal at the time.' He sighed. Chewy heard it and said, "She's gonna be pissed."

Han shrugged and said, "I'll turn on the charm and have her eating out of my hands in no time."

Chewy just gave him a look that clearly said he didn't believe him. Han was thankful for the millionth time that Leia still couldn't understand the Wookiee, because most times Chewbacca thought Leia was right. Han said, "Go check the hyperdrive or something."

Chewbacca took the hint and went to the back of the ship to let Han be alone for the next half an hour until they landed. Han thought back on how he had gotten in this mess.

*****

Han was sitting in the local bar with Chewy like he did every Wednesday afternoon when a seedy looking man came up to them. Han said, "Can I help you?"

"Are you Han Solo?"

"Who wants to know?"

"An associate of mine wishes to find him. He has a job that will take his special talents."

"Oh really? And what's the job?"

Chewbacca shook his head but Han ignored him. The man smiled and said, "He needs someone to pick up five large crates and ten men on Taooine, and take them to what's left of the Death Star."

Han threw back his head and laughed. He said, "Go away and stop bothering me."

The man said, "It will pay well."

"Look buddy, I have all the money I need. Tell your boss I'm married to the richest girl on this planet, and to top it off she's the princess. So I'm closed for business."

The man looked upset. He said, "But it's for a good cause."

Han said, "So what?"

"I guess you're not Han Solo after all."

Han got a little angry and said, "What's that supposed to mean?"

The guy shrugged and said, "The Han Solo I heard about was always ready for adventure. He was part of the Rebel forces that brought down the Empire. You are obviously not that man."

"The hell I'm not. How much money are we talking, and what do you mean it's for a good cause?"

"Most people are afraid of the Death Star. They say it's haunted, and that the dark side of the force is strong there. But there are still many things that can be salvaged from it. I have found ten men who are willing to go, but no one to take us there. We would give you five percent of the salvage."

Han automatically said, "Fifteen."

Chewy interrupted, "You can't be serious!"

The man looked startled and backed away a few paces at the loud noise coming from the Wookiee. Han turned to Chewy and said, "Why not? We haven't seen any action for months. No one really needs us here, and I feel useless now that the war is over. It will be fun, and it can't hurt to bring in some extra money."

Chewy said, "We don't even know who he's working for!"

Han turned to the guy and said, "Who do you work for?"

"My master's name is Enook."

Han turned to Chewy with a self-satisfied smile and said, "See it's fine. No one I owe money to."

Chewy said, "Leia won't like it. She would want someone to check him out before we did a job for him."

Han turned back to the man and said, "We're in. When do we leave?"

"Right now."

Han stood up but Chewbacca remained seated. Han said, "It's fine with me if you want to sit this one out. Tell Leia I'll be back in a couple of days."

Chewy said more to himself then to Han, "Funny human." and stood up to follow.

Han went to the bar tender who knew him quite well. He said, "Can you send a message to the palace that I've taken a job, and I'll be back in two or three days."

"Of course sir."

Han nodded, and the two men and the Wookiee headed out.

******

Now that he was fifteen minutes away from home he was feeling guilty and bad about leaving like that. Then there was the fact that things had not turned out well. On the way out they had received a message from Leia telling him she thought it was a set up which he had deleted. When they got to Taooine things had gone smoothly. But on the Death Star things had all gone to hell. When they got there they had unloaded and met Enook. Everything was friendly at first, but soon they found out that Enook was a Sith master, and they were trying to get supplies and blue prints to start making a newer and smaller version of the Death Star. Han and Chewy barely made it out of there alive, and they were only able to kill two of the men before they escaped. As soon as Han had gotten in close enough range, he had sent Leia a detailed message so she could send a squadron of the Rebel forces to hopefully catch the men before they took off with the info.

Han sighed again as Chewy came back in. Chewy patted Han's shoulder as he headed to his seat. He said, "She'll forgive you."

Han looked out the window and muttered, "Again."

The rest of the ride was silent. When they landed they did the routine shut down and checked the ship over for any new damage that needed to be repaired. After that was done, Chewy was happy to go home to his little house that was close to the palace.

Han stood around and pretended to do repairs until he started to get hungry. He wished Luke was home from his latest recruiting mission, because he could use dinner with Luke as another excuse not to go home.

On his way home he played out what Leia was going to say in his mind. There would be lots of yelling on her part, and not much apologizing on his. Then there would be that look of hurt and disappointment from her, and that unrepentant look of defensiveness from him. Then there would either be crying, at which point he would feel bad enough to do some kind of apology, or there would be a silence that could last for weeks. Han shook his head telling himself he was stupid for getting dragged into it in the first place, but there was no turning back now that it was done, and his pride refused to let him admit that he was in the wrong.

Han went straight to their bedroom to get cleaned up before facing her. Once he was presentable, he found Leia and her adoptive father in the dining room with a handful of other people he knew. He gave them a cocky smile and said, "Looks like I'm late."

The room was silent as Han sat down at his chair and said, "Don't everyone stop on account of me."

Leia gave him a glare, but then she turned to her friend and smiled as she continued the conversation she was having before Han showed up.

Han mostly just ate and didn't initiate a conversation with anyone. As he was finishing his father-in-law said, "It's good to see you back in one piece son."

Han gave him a smile and said, "It'll take more then ten idiot Sith followers to stop me."

Leia put down her fork abruptly and said, "Thank you everyone for coming to dinner. If you'll excuse us, my husband and I need to take care of some business."

There were polite nods and thank you's around the table as she stood up and started walking towards the door. Han tossed his napkin on his plate and smiled to everyone as he followed her out.

Han continued to follow her silently all the way to their bedroom. It was an agreement both of them had made early on in the marriage. All arguments were to be done behind closed doors, because they were always in the public eye. Han shut and locked the door behind them. Han stood almost at attention waiting for her to start yelling. When nothing happened he looked down at her questioningly. She looked at him and said, "I've been thinking about what to say to you for three days now. We've had this fight before, and it never ends well. I know that you're bored here sometimes, but there are other things you could be doing. Father and I could really use your help with the delegations."

Han said, "If you wanted a husband who would hang out around the palace and go to stuffy meetings with you where nothing gets done or resolved, you shouldn't have married me."

"You could go with Luke and help him find people to train. You could join the rebel forces on missions. But instead you go off on some screwball mission of your own that inevitably turns out badly."

"Look princess, I don't know what you want me to be, but I'm not some house boy that you can just order around. If I want to go on a screwball mission, then I'm damn well going to!"

Leia looked at him for a few seconds and then said quietly and calmly, "Fine."

"Fine?"

"I love you Han, and I know you love me too. But we can't live like this forever. You know I want to have children soon, and I need to have someone who will be a dependable father for them. So I'm going to give you a choice. You can leave me, and I'll try to go on without you and find someone new, or you can let me punish you every time you go off on some mission that makes no sense."

Han felt sick to his stomach at the thought of leaving her. He did love her, even if he didn't always say it. He couldn't live without her. Even now when she was angry with him, he still loved everything about her. He didn't really know what to think of being a father, but he knew he would do it for her. So he said, "What do you mean by punishment exactly?"

"The same thing my father did to me when I ran off and did something stupid when I was younger. I would spank you."

Han was silent for a second while he looked at her to see if she was serious. Then he started to laugh. It started out slow, but soon he was laughing so hard he had to hold his stomach. Leia just stood and watched without a smile or a glare. When he was down to chuckles he got out, "Okay beautiful, if you want to smack my butt a few times when you're pissed, you go ahead."

Han couldn't believe how funny his wife was sometimes. He had been tortured by more then one person, and his wife was smaller then him. He figured if it made her feel better, he wouldn't mind letting her. And if it helped her get over being angry at him when he went on a job, all the better for him. Leia nodded and said, "Good."

She went over to the desk and put something in her pocket that Han couldn't see. Then she pulled the chair out to the middle of the room so it wasn't around any other furniture. She sat down in it and said, "Come here then."

Han frowned. He didn't like her using a nickname with him, especially when she emphasized it. He did it all the time to her, but it sounded bad to him when she did it. He said, "Okay. Your wish is my command princess."

He walked over to her and started to bend down to lay over her lap, but she said, "Not just yet."

He stood up and she lifted the tunic to get to the drawstring that was holding up his pants. As she started to untie it Han said, "Hey now, I don't .."

Leia looked at him with confusion and said, "It's not like I haven't seen it before."

"Well, yeah, but .."

The pants fell to the floor, and as usual he wasn't wearing anything under them. Leia patted her lap and said, "Okay, over you go."

Han was thinking that this whole situation was more irritating then he had been expecting, but he grit his teeth and lay over her lap thinking that if it would make her forgive him, then he was willing. It was an awkward position. He held up his upper body with both arms, and his legs were so long that he was almost able to rest his knees on the floor. Leia said, "Put your arm behind your back so I can hold it please."

Han snapped, "If you think you can hit me hard enough that I'll try to get up on my own, you're mistaken."

Leia pulled a large oval wooden hairbrush out of the pocket of her gown. She had gotten it off the desk without him noticing when she pulled out the chair. She said, "I'll remind you of that when you try and get up."

She lifted the back of his tunic up out of the way and rested her hand on the middle of his lower back. She brought the hairbrush down hard on the left side of his butt and then the right. His entire body jerked with the first swat, and he was barely able to keep his voice in check. He looked back over his shoulder at her and said, "What the hell are you using?"

"My hairbrush. You've used it more then once."

"Yeah, to brush your hair for you, not for ..this."

Leia brought it down four more times and Han tried very hard not to show a reaction. Leia said, "I'm very disappointed in your choices lately. The night after we got married you said you would always be there for me when I needed you. But lately you haven't been."

She gave him four more hard swats. Han remembered that night, and he had meant what he said, but he didn't think going to delegations and sitting with her during political discussions was something she needed him to do. As if reading his mind Leia continued with, "I know that if I was in danger you would be there in a heartbeat for me, but that isn't good enough in a marriage. I need you there with me for the boring parts too."

Six swats later he was finding it hard to be still. Leia said, "Let's talk about your trip."

At that point she started spanking faster without pausing. Han's body started moving to avoid the swats even though he tried not to let it. His mind kept racing between disbelief that his little wife could cause him so much pain, and that everything she had said was right. And as his legs started to kick involuntarily he thought, 'She's got to be about done by now.'

But as the spanking continued he could feel his breath catching in his throat, and his eyes started to tear up. He said, "Leia .please "

Leia stopped when she heard her name. "Please what?"

Han took a deep breath and forced himself to say, "I'm sorry."

Leia nodded and said, "I'm glad that you realize that what you did was a bad idea, but it's not going to stop me from giving you this spanking."

"What?!"

"And it's not going to stop me next time either, so maybe you should think about those jobs a little more before you decide to take them."

Han started to get up as he said, "Now wait just a minute ."

She pushed on the middle of his back and said, "Remember when you said you would stay in place? What happened to that?"

An embarrassed Han stopped pushing to get up and said, "I think I've had enough. My ass is on fire already. What more do you want?"

"I want you to know how serious I am about it. I love you, and the thought of losing you kills me. I will not sit by and let you take unnecessary risks with your life."

A few seconds later the guilt and pain all mixed into one and he couldn't stop himself from crying. As he started to cry a stray thought ran through his mind, 'How can this make me cry when being tortured by Vader didn't?'

Leia heard him start to cry. She gave him ten more swats and then stopped. She put the hairbrush back in her pocket, and rubbed his back. She said, "I love you, and I need you to do better."

Han nodded through his tears and realized that was the difference. She was trying to make him a better person, and he knew she loved him, where Vader hated him and was trying to get information from him. It was a big difference. He wiped at his face and said, "Can I get up?"

"Yes."

Han stood up on shaky legs and pulled up his pants. He tied them and had to wipe at his face again. Leia stood up and gave him a tight hug. She said, "I do love you Han .I want you to be around for a long time. The thought of losing you terrifies me."

He hugged her back and said, "I love you too Leia. You're not going to lose me. I'll go with Luke next time, and for now I'll go to the awful meetings with you. I'm sorry I scared you. I meant it when I told you I would always be there for you. That will never change."

He picked her up and carried her to the bed. He laid her down and lay down on his side beside her. He gave her a kiss and said, "Of all the ways I pictured this discussion going, this scenario never came to me."

She turned over and snuggled up with her back to his front so they were spooning on the bed. She said, "I got the idea from my father."

Han had pulled her to him and was happily snuggled to her when she said that. His head popped up as he said, "What?"

"Not like that. He was just saying he was worried about you, and that when you came home he was going to have a talk with you about responsibility. And that sounded exactly like what he said to me the last time he spanked me back when I was fourteen. It just made me think about it, and then I couldn't get it out of my mind."

They were quiet for a while. Han was about to drift off to sleep when Leia said, "What did Chewy say when you took the job?"